EQUITY FOCUSED

Third Grade Reading Proficiency Data Dashboard

The public now has a new way to explore early literacy disparities across North Carolina, through three education equity data dashboards that can be filtered at state, district, and school levels.

Micere Keels, Tongyao Jiang, & Cynthia Chen | NCECF | September 27, 2024

During this time when back-to-school excitement is running high, and there is a renewed belief in all children's potential to succeed, it is important to reflect on the children that have been made marginal in our education system. We do this by sharing three data dashboards that provide an equity-focused look into third-grade reading proficiency scores for traditional public elementary schools across North Carolina using the Department of Public Instruction’s publicly available school report card data.

Data transparency is one of the ways that a broad tent of stakeholders (parents, policymakers, educational advocates, the business community, philanthropic organizations, and other members of the broader public) can see for themselves where the system is failing and hold those in charge accountable for change. To facilitate transparency, we have developed three equity-focused data dashboards that enable the exploration of racial, ethnic, and economic disparities in third-grade reading proficiency.

Photo by Catherine Hammond on Unsplash

Early literacy is a critical leading indicator of the likelihood that a child will experience school success.

Research informs us that most students who are struggling readers at the end of third grade will continue to be struggling readers in high school. This is partially because fourth grade is perceived by many educators as the point where they begin to shift their focus from teaching students how to read to teaching them how to use their reading skills to learn.

Because early reading skills predict future school success it is a benchmark that can be used to take early corrective action. There are many prekindergarten through third grade indicators that can be used to provide intervention and support long before children are designated as struggling readers at the end of third grade.

Stakeholders can use these equity dashboards to filter the data by school district and school to explore disparities in student outcomes in the communities closest to them–the communities where their voices can influence change.

DASHBOARD 1 shows the trend over the past ten years.

One of many insights that can be viewed in this dashboard is that the state-level average trend shows that the overall pattern of racial, ethnic, and economic disparities in reading proficiency is largely the same in 2023 as it was in 2014. However, it is important to look closely at local information by using the tabs to select ones’ school district and school because there is a tremendous amount of variation across the state.

DASHBOARD 2 shows the widening and narrowing in disparities since the pandemic.

One of many insights that can be viewed in this dashboard is that in many districts and schools disparities have widened since the pandemic, but in others disparities have narrowed. This again shows the importance of looking beyond state level trends to understand what is happening in individual districts and schools.

DASHBOARD 3 shows the current state of disparities based on the most recent available data.

One of many insights that can be viewed in this dashboard is that targeting disparities in reading proficiency between economically disadvantaged and not economically disadvantaged students needs to happen in wealthy districts like Chapel-Carrboro City Schools where only 30% of the students are economically disadvantaged and in less wealthy districts like Avery County Schools where 63% of students are economically disadvantaged. In Chapel-Carrboro City Schools 83% of not economically disadvantaged students are reading proficient but this drops to only 34% for economically disadvantaged students. Similarly, in Avery County Schools 74% of not economically disadvantaged students are reading proficient compared to only 36% of economically disadvantaged students.

Dashboard 1

Overview & Ten Year Trend

The interactive elements enable you to select to see the data at the state, district, or school level, and select which student demographic subgroups to see on the figures. Hover over all the figures and maps to see more detailed data.

Dashboard 2

Post Pandemic Widening and Narrowing Disparities

Dashboard 3

Current Status Of Disparities

2022-23 School Year

Decades of research on educational reform initiatives informs us that a critical part of initiating and sustaining change is bringing stakeholder attention to where the disparities are and which groups are most affected. This can and should be done by the Department of Public Instruction as part of annual public data reporting. We strongly recommend that NC’s Department of Public Instruction create and share equity dashboards that would enable policymakers, educators, parents and the general public to see where progress is being made and where resources are needed to ensure that all North Carolina children have equitable opportunities for educational success.

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FAQS

Where is this data from?

The dashboards were created from the publicly available data in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's School Report Cards.

Why do we need to use this data to inform decisions?

Parents and decision-makers should be able to see the data in ways that enable them to see where the disparities and gaps are and whether these disparities are improving, staying the same, or getting worse over time. These dashboards enable stakeholders to dig deeper into the root causes of academic success and struggle.

Isn’t this data available from the Department of Public Instruction?

It is not publicly reported in this format. These dashboards democratize data so everyone can see the trends impacting our children. With no external pressure, the state can ignore the need to get low-income children and children from racially and ethnically marginalized groups access to equitable educational resources.

What is coming next from The Foundation?

Our next report will show the deeper impacts of poverty on your young learners. With data from this dashboard, our researchers show how poverty swamps everything. Schools that serve high percentages of low-income students often have the lowest-quality teachers, leading our researchers to conclude that “the kids that need the most reading support have the least experienced teachers and are more likely to have provisionally certified teachers.”

Who was the team that created this data?

Dr. Micere Keels, NCECF Policy and Practice Leader began this project in January 2024 and was joined by Columbia University’s Innovation Lab data policy interns Tongyao Jiang and Cynthia Chen in June 2024.

How long did it take?

8 months. The project kicked off in January 2024.

What measures did you take to ensure this data is sound and factual?

There may be errors in the data that is reported by North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction. The project team did a considerable amount of data cleaning and checking to ensure that merging the individual datasets did not introduce new errors. The school report card data is provided in over 50 individual files that must be cleaned and merged. Data on student demographics was extracted from the student and staff Statistical Profile online platform, which was also cleaned before merging with the school report card data. These files then needed to be merged with geographic data to enable the interactive maps that are displayed in Dashboard 1.